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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29031798">bring me close and take me away</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CobraOnTheCob/pseuds/CobraOnTheCob'>CobraOnTheCob</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, No 'I love you' Zutara Challenge, Pre-Relationship, The No "I Love You" Challenge (Avatar), takes place during the final episode but diverges at a certain point</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 04:20:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,460</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29031798</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CobraOnTheCob/pseuds/CobraOnTheCob</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Near-death experiences brings people closer.</p><p>But what happens when life needs them away from each other?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Katara &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>81</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>The No "I Love You" Challenge</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>bring me close and take me away</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>make like a conifer and pine &gt;:)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They become closer thanks to their nightmares.</p><p>	One dreams of being too slow to intercept the lightning, the other dreams of not being powerful enough to save the other. </p><p>	And even after Zuko is no longer in imminent danger of dying, Katara is afraid he’ll relapse when she’s not there to stop it.</p><p>	So they sleep together in the same bed. More or less, anyways. Zuko is bedridden, and while he’s awake, Karata will sleep for two to three hours at a time until nightfall, when the night gives her the energy to stay awake and make sure that there isn’t anything that could send Zuko to an early grave. </p><p>	He holds her when she’s gripped by her nightmares, whispering assurances that he is alive and well, and she lets him thrash in his sleep, and whispers to him that she is safe. </p><p>	In their waking hours together, they tell each other big and little things. Their nightmares, stories of their mothers, stories about their siblings, stories about Aang and/or Toph, and stories they make up on the fly. </p><p>	Sokka questions their closeness, but they both dismiss it as Katara needing to be close to Zuko so that he doesn’t die. Sokka merely shrugs and tells them no funny business, to which Katara chases him out with what water she can take from the humid air.</p><p>	Suki and Toph only cast smirks Katara’s way, and she just rolls her eyes at them before going back to her work.</p><p>	It’s Aang who really irks her, though.</p><p>	“He should be fine, right?” Aang asks for the umpteenth time when she’s checking up on Zuko, and Katara’s patience is thinner than parchment.</p><p>	“He will be if you stop bothering me,” she says, but either the fight with Ozai disrupted his hearing or he was willfully ignorant of how frustrated her voice sounded like right now.</p><p>	“Katara - “ </p><p>	“Get out,” she spits, keeping her eyes on Zuko’s chest wound as she worked on his wound, “Get out, right now, unless you have an injury I need to see.” Aang, for once in his life, actually listens to her and does as she asks. </p><p>	Zuko says nothing, but a simple brow raise told her that he was in the same boat as her. She breaks the silence by telling him that she’s done with this particular check-up.</p>
<hr/><p>Zuko gets better, and she’s pleased to see that. He’s not as bedridden as the first two weeks, she let him walk around and get his own things, but she made sure he didn’t strain himself. </p><p>	They talk more - specifically about the Fire Nation. Zuko tells her about the various religions, laws, and traditions he read about or knew already. She tells him that by the end of the week, he can expect to be on his feet and be able to deliver two speeches - one for his coronation, and then a concession speech the following day.</p><p>	“Speeches, huh?” he chuckles, “I’ve heard about the one you made at the earthbenders’ prison, would you like to help?”</p><p>	“Gladly,” Katara says, and Zuko smiles.</p><p>	“Thank you, Katara,” he replies, squeezing her hand, “Uh...we should probably start drafting it right now?”</p><p>	“That would be a good idea, yes,” Katara says, and gets up to get parchment and a pen.</p>
<hr/><p>Both speeches went without a hitch, and Katara thanked every spirit she knew. She was standing behind a pillar and watching for any sign that Zuko might falter - or even worse, an assassin. </p><p>	She didn’t have to worry.</p><p>	Nothing dared to harm Zuko’s ascension to the throne, nor tried to stop his concession speech. </p><p>	Katara stayed in the Fire Nation for another week, ensuring that Zuko’s wound wouldn’t kill him when she left. Toph and Uncle Iroh would stay in the Fire Nation to ensure his safety, and Katara is glad for it. The desire to go home to the Southern Water Tribe had been bottled up for <i>months</i>, and with the war declared to be over, the dam had been opened, and all she could think about was everything that made the snowy land her home. It’s overwhelming, intoxicating, and it pulls her stronger than a riptide ever would. </p><p>	But as she stands on the docks and gives her good-byes to Zuko, Toph, and Uncle Iroh, she feels like she’ll greatly miss the Fire Nation. Toph and Uncle Iroh hug her good-bye before stepping away to talk to Sokka, and now she’s standing there with him.</p><p>	“I guess this is good-bye,” Katara says, and Zuko runs his fingers through his hair and chuckles.</p><p>	“Yeah,” he says, “I’ll miss you.”</p><p>	“Write to me then,” she says, raising her chin, “And let me know if the injury flares up.”</p><p>	“I will,” he promises, and she pulls him into a hug.</p><p>	“It’s funny,” she says, “I think I’m going to miss the Fire Nation.”</p><p>	“What?”</p><p>	“I miss home...but I know I’m going to miss how different the Fire Nation is,” she says, “And the people I’ve met...they’re in good hands.”</p><p>	“Thank you, Katara,” he says, and she pulls away. </p><p>	“But my home…”</p><p>	“I know that feeling,” Zuko says, “Probably for the wrong reason, but I know what the call for home feels like.”</p><p>	“I guess we have another thing in common,” she chuckles, and Zuko shakes his head.</p><p>	“Well, my reason to go back to the Fire Nation is vastly different than yours, and yours is a legitimate reason to go home.”</p><p>	“You haven’t seen the Fire Nation in three years,” Katara said, “I can’t imagine what that’s like, being unable to see my home for nearly a year, let alone for three.”</p><p>	“But you’re not betraying anyone to return home.”</p><p>	“You didn’t betray me, Zuko,” she says, “Stop beating yourself up for it, alright?”</p><p>	“Okay,” he says, and pulls her into another hug, “Thank you, for everything.”</p><p>	“Yeah,” Katara says, “Write to me, alright?”</p><p>	“And what if I don’t?” he asks, releasing the hug. She steps back slightly but grasps his wrists and stares at him directly in the eyes.</p><p>	“I’ll assume that you’ve been assassinated,” she says, “And I’ll come rushing over here.”</p><p>	“I wouldn’t want to take you away from your efforts in the Southern Water Tribe, then,” Zuko says, “So I’ll write to you.”</p><p>	“You better,” she says.</p><p>	“I won’t die on you,” he says suddenly, “You’ve got a lot to do, and I’m not adding - “</p><p>	“You don’t add anything,” she cuts him off, “Besides, I’d do anything for a friend.” </p><p>	“I shouldn’t hold you up any longer,” he says, and it’s just then when they both realize that Katara’s hands are still holding his wrists and some people are looking their way. Katara lets his wrists go and lets out an awkward cough. Both of them are looking away.</p><p>	“Well, I think Katara won’t hold up anyone any longer,” Sokka says, shattering the awkward tension. Katara could only glance at Zuko, who was turning a similar shade to his clothes and she wondered if he could sense her cheeks getting hot enough to rival the sun. </p><p>	“Yeah, I won’t,” she says, “Well, don’t die on us, and we’ll visit when we can. That’s a promise.”</p><p>	“Good-bye, Katara,” he says, “Good luck with...well, everything.”</p><p>	“You too,” Katara says, and walks away towards the gangplank. Once everyone is onboard and the gangplank lifted, Katara watches as they get further away from the docks, further from Zuko. She waves, and he waves back, and both continue to do so until neither can see the other. She drops her arm and begins to bend the water to help the boat get home faster.</p><p>	As she bends, pushing the boat further and further away, she can’t help but look back at the mass of land that was the Fire Nation getting smaller and smaller, and the feeling she left something behind grew larger and larger as they traveled further away.</p><p>	It wouldn’t be until day later when they return to the Southern Water Tribe and begin to rebuild when she accidentally says Zuko’s name does she realize what she left behind in the Fire Nation.</p><p>	She missed being on Zuko’s side - talking to him, sparring with him, collaborating with him - she missed his friendship. </p><p>	She tells him as such in the first letter she sends. </p><p>	And he tells her in the letter he sends that he feels the same way.</p><p>	He promises in the letter that Iroh arranged for a week for all of them to stay at the Jasmine Dragon, and Katara is quick to accept such an invitation. </p><p>	That week can’t come fast enough, but as each day passes and the week draws nearer, she can’t help but smile in anticipation to see her best friend again.</p>
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